Box-office leaders: 'Surrogates,' 'Fame,' and 'Cloudy'

By Sarah Sluis

The trio of wide releases this weekend has one thing in common: so-so reviews. Surrogates (2,951 theatres), a dystopian future film starring Bruce Willis, is one pick for the top spot. Critic Kirk Honeycutt

quipped that Surrogates is "a movie about human robots that appears to have actually been made by human robots." The premise, as laid out in the trailer, is a twist on The Matrix: everyone willingly hooks up to a machine and lives their life through an avatar. The problem is, turns out killing your avatar kills your real-life self. The best thing about futuristic films is their detailed, well-laid-out worlds, but unfortunately it seems Surrogates lacks the logic that would make the movie a satisfying diversion.

Teen musical remake Fame (3,096 theatres) is another contender for the top spot, along with last week's release Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. According to critic Stephen Farber, it "apes High School Musical rather than Mean Streets. Rated PG, it's almost laughably bland and

watered-down in its desire to appeal to the widest possible audience." Sadly, the best song of the production, "Fame (I'm Going to Live Forever)," is ghettoized to the closing credits.

Pandorum (2,400 theatres) also borrows from a well-known sci-fi movie, this time Aliens. Dennis Quaid plays an astronaut who wakes up in a spaceship that looks creepily old--and missing many of its 60,000 passengers. With a group of survivors, he must try to evade the aliens that have the ability to both kill and infect. It's expected to open below Surrogates and Fame.

This week also brings some high-profile small releases. Sony Pictures Classics Coco Before Chanel (6 theatres, NY/LA) is a must-see for any fashion fans, though the movie concentrates more on

biography and ambition than the fashion icon's actual designs. Chanel's very masculine, unfrivolous garments are a shock to the eye, and the manor scenes play much differently than the usual costume film stereotypes.

Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story opened on Wednesday on 4 screens, and earned $9,000 per screen on its opening day (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen did $14,600 per screen in its Wednesday debut). It doesn't open wide until next Friday, so this week's returns will help portend its box-office fate. I can't wait until all the pundits start digging in, if Moore's promotional appearance on Good Morning America is any hint.

The much-reviled I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, from the book by Tucker Max, opens on 120 screens, hopefully all located, and contained to, epicenters of fratty bad behavior.

Slamdance horror movie Paranormal Activity will open in 13 campus locations, in an attempt to build word-of-mouth for the Blair Witch-type horror movie. Our critic Kevin Lally found the movie to be either stupefying or horrifying, with the wait for its "[e]ffective jolts" requiring "extraordinary patience."

Monday we'll see if audiences picked Fame, Surrogates, or the comfort choice, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. We'll also get a sneak peek of whether Michael Moore's film will be more Sicko or Fahrenheit 9/11.